


Noodle Break

by zeltronparty (reanimatrix)



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-10 02:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5564680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reanimatrix/pseuds/zeltronparty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Preston convinces Doris to take a break at the food stand in Diamond City, and the two attempt to learn more about each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Noodle Break

Diamond City was, as usual, a bustling oasis in the hellhole that was the Commonwealth. There was always something Doris found sad about it. She couldn’t explain what, and it wasn’t something she felt the need to examine. The time wasted on contemplating her feelings about Diamond City was better spent trying to find Shaun, or a million other ways. Still, this was not a place where she liked to linger. 

“Hey, maybe we should sit down for a bit, grab some noodles,” Preston suggested, “I could use a drink.”

“I don’t drink,” she replied coolly, “and I’m not really hungry.” 

“It doesn’t have to be alcohol,” Preston pointed out, “pretty sure they have Nuka Cola, or even just clean water around here. When was the last time you ate? You might be hungrier than you think.” 

She frowned, then nodded in agreement, biting back the attempt to tell him that his concern was not necessary. There was no need to be rude when someone showed they cared. She certainly appreciated it. 

“All right then, I suppose we can sit down for a bit.” 

“You should get some noodles too.”

“Okay, I’ll get some noodles too.” she said with a resigned sigh.

“Hey, I promise they’re not so bad. Probably nothing compared to what you used to get, but still pretty good.” he reassured her, smiling.

She looked around while they waited for the broken robot, not really having paid that much attention to Diamond City before. It certainly was… interesting looking. Last time she’d been here she’d only really interacted with Piper and Nick, not really giving the area full look. Taking the small city in only made it worse. She still couldn't pin down why it made her sad, and still didn't really care about the reason. 

“You’d be surprised,” she replied with a shrug, “I used to have to live on rations sometimes, the noodles might be better.” 

“Well, there you go then,” Preston replied as he called Takashi over. 

They both ordered noodles, she got a Nuka, and he got a beer. 

“You know,” Preston said after a moment, “I don’t know very much about you.” 

“What do you mean?” she replied, tilting her head a bit as she drank some of her soda. “I told you about the Vault, about Shaun, I’m not sure what else there is to tell.” 

“You sure about that? There’s gotta be more to you than that.” he asked, looking skeptical.

She shrugged. “All right then, what do you want to know?” she was curious now. She wasn’t eager to talk about herself, really, but she liked Preston too much to say so. He meant well, and what would it really hurt? She was also completely free not to answer any question she didn’t want to. She ate as she waited for him to respond. 

“Okay then,” he began, thoughtfully, “how did you get so good at picking locks? Was that something you were taught in your military?” 

She shook her head with a little smile. “Nah. If anything the lock picking is part of why I ended up in the military.” She brushed her hand through her hair self consciously, making a note that it was starting to get rather tangled and greasy. She could live with it, she had before, but she missed hot, clean water.

Preston looked curious as he ate his noodles, but nodded at her to continue.

“Okay, so when I was a teenager, me and my brother-- he was a couple years older than me, I was in my late teens but-- and it was mostly my brother, actually.” She started, then realized that she wasn’t making much sense and paused for a moment. “Let me start over. I had an older brother, and our dad was really strict. Retired military, and god I hope I wouldn’t have been that kind of parent, because he was an asshole. My brother went through a rebellious stage in his early twenties, and me being in my late teens, I followed along.”

She paused to take a drink, and looked down at her noodles, swishing them around in the bowl. Preston had been right, she was hungrier than she thought. She ate some more. 

“How was your dad an asshole?” Preston asked, obviously interested. The fact that he’d been paying attention was a little odd to her. Usually people asked these things to give themselves something to listen to while they rested, and out of politeness, but no, Preston seemed to genuinely want to know about her.

“I could spend hours explaining, so let’s leave it at that. ” Doris replied between eating more noodles. She also had no desire to actually talk about her father, or her childhood really, beyond this. She wasn’t even sure this had been such a good idea, but stopping now would only make him more curious, though she doubted he’d push. Still, she’d already jumped in, she owed him to at least continue.

“Okay,” he said with a nod, taking a sip of his drink and leaving it at that, thankfully. 

“Thank you,” she replied. There was a reason she liked Preston. He cared, but he didn’t pry. He just worried for her a little too much sometimes, and she was pretty sure if he really knew her he’d be incredibly disappointed, but as it was he was a good friend. 

“Anyway,” she continued, “I guess you could say my brother and I started hanging out with the wrong people. They taught me to steal, to pick locks and hack into terminals. It’s not something I ever really liked doing, to be honest, but my brother did and it was either spend time with my brother or spend time with my father.” 

“Didn’t think you were the stealing type,” Preston agreed with a nod “but you obviously admired your brother.” 

“Yeah, I guess I did. I mean my mother-- well, my brother was the person I was closest to. Thinking back on it he was kind of a tool, but I didn’t know anything back then. Anyway, eventually they got caught doing, something, I don’t even remember what, I wasn’t even there. But my brother actually went to prison, and my father sent me off to military school, because, according to him, I was obviously going to end up the same way if I didn’t learn some discipline. He was probably right. ”

She shrugged and finished her soda, looking down at her noodles. She hated talking about this kind of thing, it made things so awkward. 

“Well, you certainly turned out alright,” he said with a smile, “except for ending up here, but that had nothing to do with anything you did.” 

She chuckled at that a bit, nodding. “I could have died, I suppose, and I’m glad that I didn’t, I like being alive.” 

“Hey, you wouldn’t have gotten to see the beautiful new Commonwealth, would you?” he asked with obvious sarcasm. 

“Or eat these amazing noodles,” she replied dryly, “They’re certainly worth getting attacked by feral ghouls or trawling through supermutant infested areas, at least.” He had been right though, the noodles weren’t terrible. Not when you hadn't eaten for hours, anyway. 

“Okay well, I’ve told you about myself, it’s your turn.” she said after some silence, finishing her noodles. 

“What do you want to know?” he asked, taking more time with his own food. 

She thought for a moment. She was certainly curious about Preston Garvey, but she had no idea what she wanted to know. What were you supposed to ask? Something that wasn’t incredibly private, definitely. 

“How old were you when you decided to join the Minutemen?” she asked after thinking for a moment longer.

“Seventeen.” he replied.

“That’s really young,” she said with a frown. Then again, people grew up fast in the wasteland, she reminded herself. “why’d you join?”

“The Minutemen really did something back then, you know? They kept the Commonwealth safe. I wanted to be part of that.” he explained, quietly.

“Really good reason, then” Doris replied with a nod, drinking the last drops of her soda. 

“Yeah. I think now that we’ve got you, we can get them back to what they’re meant to be.” he said hopefully, setting his bowl down. 

“I'll definitely do my best.” she replied, the noodles suddenly feeling like a rock in her stomach. She didn’t understand why he ever thought that she could save the Minutemen, but now she had to, despite having no idea how. General. There was a time in her life where such a rank would have been an extreme honor, a pipe dream. So much for that. She had been incredibly unwise, to say the least, when she agreed to take the responsibility. 

That wasn’t even taking into account the conflicting interests of the Minutemen and the Brotherhood of Steel. Part of the reason she was involved with both was to balance them, really. She was pretty sure she could, even if it wasn’t easy. The Brotherhood also had a much better chance of being useful in finding the Institute and her son, and that was still her ultimate priority, as selfish as she felt for it. They also had more of a chance to actually clean up the Commonwealth. She suspected that Preston would not appreciate the process, but certainly like the result. Sometimes aggression was necessary. She had had to remind herself of that every day for years, she knew it better than a lot of people.

“That’s really all I can ask for,” Preston said, and she could tell he was trying to sound re-assuring. She wondered how obvious she was making her unease, frowning inwardly. 

“Well, we should probably get going,” she said flatly, looking up at the sky and getting off the stool. He did the same, and prepared to follow her. Why he considered her worth following was a mystery that made her nervous. She was going to get him killed, and he was too good to die for her. The Commonwealth needed Preston much more than it needed her, no matter what he thought. 

“I’m glad you liked the noodles,” he said with his usual friendly cheer. For some reason, she found it annoying all of a sudden. She didn’t reply, but just started walking, and he followed. She refused to look back and see the look of confusion on his face.


End file.
